It was a day of many "firsts" for me, but I have managed to survive. The first day at SJSU. I am now a very small fish in a very large pond. No warm fuzzies from my professors, no "Glad to see you back" greetings from classmates, no knowing exactly where I am and where I am going. Nope. Just a load of first weekend back homework. And I signed up for this??

The other first was my trip to school. Living as close as I do, it just didn't make sense to pay $200 (!) for a parking pass that doesn't even guarantee a spot...and it takes 45 min to an hour to get that figured out...yikes! Included in the fees I have to pay already is a VTA pass. So, I get ride public transportation for "free" all semester long. whoo-hoo. Only thing that gave me pause was the fact that I have never ventured out on the San Jose public transit system. It's not that I've never ridden public transportation...I've done CalTrain, BART and even MUNI. I've ventured out in foreign countries. I'm not scared of public transport...it's just never made sense to me in San Jose. Also, I am addicted to driving my car. So, on to Light Rail. I wanted to do a "test run" as I am hopeless with spatial relationships. I have a really hard time telling my left from my right, let alone map reading and the whole compass rose thing. But everyone said it was too easy to get to SJSU. Hop on at the station close to home, hop off at Santa Clara and walk three short blocks and wham! I'm at school in half an hour or less. Yeah. So, I get on this morning just fine. I can at least tell which direction downtown is. I hop off at Santa Clara and walk three blocks. In the wrong direction. I should have known something was wrong when all the other backpack toting adults got off at the station before me. Great. I'm looking for a giant campus in the middle of town. I'm wandering...kind of in the right direction now...but can not figure out where I am. Really. I don't hang in downtown. If I do, it's at night, it's dark and there is alcohol involved. I'm useless at 11:00 am. Now I'm getting desperate. I'm worried I'm going to be late for class...a first day sin if ever there was one. It's getting warm, my back is getting sweaty from fear and a large black backpack, and I still don't know where the hell I'm going for sure. I am on the verge of tears (and of calling my poor long suffering husband for directions, not for the first time ever, but certainly for the first time while I'm on foot) when I stumble, almost by accident, onto the back side of the college. I was saved. All that was left was for me to navigate the "small" campus and get to class...sufficient to say I made it just in time. Good thing I gave myself an hour for all this scrabbling around.

I hope tomorrow goes better.